St James the Great RC Primary and Nursery School

Overview: St James the Great RC Primary and Nursery School is an outstanding school that provides an ambitious and well-planned curriculum, excellent behaviour and attitudes, and a strong focus on personal development. Pupils demonstrate a mature understanding of other people's beliefs and choices, and are proud to make a positive impact on their school and local community.

Strengths:

• The school has designed an ambitious curriculum that considers the key knowledge, skills and vocabulary pupils should know.
• Leaders sequence learning into small steps so pupils can build on prior knowledge.
• Pupils demonstrate excellent behaviour throughout the school, with clear systems in place to support positive behaviour.
• The school provides exceptional opportunities for pupils' personal development, including a wealth of pupil leadership roles and a strong focus on preparing pupils for life skills.
• Pupils have a positive attitude to their learning and are keen to share their learning, with a love of reading developing throughout the school.

Areas to improve:

• Pupils' outcomes for writing have been low, but leaders have moved quickly to identify barriers to pupils' writing skills and provide targeted support.
• The school should continue to adapt the curriculum to support all pupils to access subject content successfully, including those with SEND.

Safeguarding: The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.